Handybook, a Housecleaning Start-Up, Raises $10 Million

Handybook allows users to book preapproved cleaners and handy workers.Credit

Investors are betting that the business of scheduling housework can be the next big thing.

Handybook, a start-up that allows users to book preapproved cleaners and handy workers, plans to announce on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in a new round of financing, primarily from existing investors led by General Catalyst Partners and Highland Capital Partners.

The company began looking for additional money in midsummer, according to Handybook’s co-founder and chief executive, Oisin Hanrahan. Term sheets were signed about six weeks ago, and the deal closed about three weeks ago.

Behind the push for new financing, only months after Handybook raised $2 million last October, is its growth. Mr. Hanrahan said the company hit a patch of about three to four months where its user base was doubling every month.

“We were at a point where we were doing thousands of bookings a week,” he said in an interview. “Even now, we’re still seeing very strong double-digit growth.”

The financing reflects continued interest in companies that aim to simplify fragmented industries with on-demand services, with the car ride start-up Uber as the paragon. (Many a pitch nowadays begins with, “It’s Uber, but for” services ranging from last-minute hotel deals to dog-walking.)

To many venture capitalists, on-demand services could prove a gold mine. Uber itself raised $258 million in August in a round led by Google‘s venture arm.

Handybook is attempting to transfer that model – uniting disparate service providers into one place – to the highly fragmented world of housecleaning and repairs. The company now operates in eight cities, with plans to add five more by month’s end. It also rolled out an updated mobile app on Monday.

When Mr. Hanrahan was in London two years ago, he said he took note of the rise of car service start-ups like Uber and Hailo and wondered how to export that business plan to other industries. Shortly after moving to Boston, he said, he hit upon housecleaning and handy work.

The company aims to differentiate itself from existing companies like Angie’s List or YP.com by doing most of the work, from scheduling to billing.

While he declined to disclose internal financial numbers, Mr. Hanrahan said the average bill was about $85, with the company taking a cut before paying the service provider. Handybook’s margin, he said, was in the midteen percentage points.

About 25 percent of customers are on subscription plans, he added, with another 15 percent who are not on subscriptions but plan to use the service again within 30 days.

The vast majority of requests are for housecleaning, from small apartments to major post-party jobs. (Mr. Hanrahan sheepishly alluded to a New York Post story that noted a few customers have used the service to mask evidence of affairs.) Other tasks, like plumbing and furniture assembly, rank much lower on the priorities list.

But Handybook aims to persuade customers to start requesting other services alongside their cleaners.

“You’re going to have a cleaner already, so we’ll send a plumber, too,” Mr. Hanrahan said. “You don’t have to think about maintaining your home. We’ll think of it for you.”